Anaconda Historic District, Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway: General Offices, 300 West Commercial Avenue, Anaconda, Deer Lodge County, MT

Significance: The General Offices of the B, A & P Railway formerly served as the passenger depot and dispatchers office for this rail operation. Built in 1898, the two-story brick structure has rusticated granite window lintels and sills with a continuous granite belt at the top and bottom of the second-story windows. The windows also feature overhead semicircular arch transoms. Dentilled and corbelled brickwork appears along the roofline at each building facade. The east end of the building has rounded corners, while a rectangular wing extends from the west end. The B, A & P was incorporated October 1, 1892, began hauling copper ore from the mines at Butte to smelter at Anaconda by the close of 1893. The line also provided passenger service to Anacondans from this building location since the time of its construction until April 1955. Originally steam-powered, the B, A & P Railway was, by 1916, the first fully electrified railroad in the United States. In the 1960s, diesel locomotives entirely replaced the electric models. The railroad is currently dispatched from the east end of the city at the base of the Anaconda Reduction Works site. Its main line cargo includes copper concentrates and precipitates transported from Butte's Weed Concentrator to the Anaconda Smelter. Lime rock and sulphuric acid are also moved from the smelter to regional customers by way of main-line interchanges with the Milwaukee Road and the Burlington Northern Railroad.
Survey number: HABS MT-53-P
Building/structure dates: 1898 Initial Construction